Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

config file with ESR60

dpb811
dpb811
more options

I'm wondering if Mozilla.cfg still works with ESR60+ to customize/harden Firefox. I realize that group policy customization is now available, however testing and rolling that out takes time. Can someone speak to the official stance on this?

I've searched the doco high and low and see nothing to indicate that the config file is no longer supported. Everything in our config from ESR52, still works with the exception of "browser.startup.homepage".

Also, are there any tools to convert/migrate settings from the config file to a policy template?

I'm wondering if Mozilla.cfg still works with ESR60+ to customize/harden Firefox. I realize that group policy customization is now available, however testing and rolling that out takes time. Can someone speak to the official stance on this? I've searched the doco high and low and see nothing to indicate that the config file is no longer supported. Everything in our config from ESR52, still works with the exception of "browser.startup.homepage". Also, are there any tools to convert/migrate settings from the config file to a policy template?

All Replies (4)

Wesley Branton
Wesley Branton
more options

Yes, that method is still working in Firefox ESR 60 and I don't believe that there are any plans to remove this feature, since not every system is compatible with the Group Policy method and there are options that aren't available through other means.

For information on AutoConfig in Firefox can be found in the Customize Firefox using AutoConfig documentation.

I am not aware of any automated tools to convert the AutoConfig file to Group Policy, since the two policy methods are different and don't have the same options.

Hope this helps.

dpb811
dpb811 Question owner
more options

Thanks for your reply, Wesley.

We have used autoconfig since ESR24. In further testing upgrading from ESR 52.9 to ESR 60.1, I found that despite having: lockPref("browser.startup.homepage", " https://OurStartPage.com ");

... in the config file since the beginning, and deploying minor upgrades almost monthly and major new ESR releases when available, in this 52.9 -> 60.1 change, the start page does not launch. There is a Google thread here from someone with the same experience as me.

I found that for some reason after the upgrade, looking at about:config - the value of browser.startup.page had changed from its default/untouched value of 1, to 0, which explains the start page not launching.

So I guess the question is, what causes this change. Should I submit a Bugzilla report to have this tested?

dpb811
dpb811 Question owner
more options

My organization currently has over 28,000 Firefox users. Come 9/5/2018, any vulnerabilities announced on ESR52 will force a move to ESR60.

So in preparation for that and to avoid interruption on the user experience, any prompt reply is appreciated.

Wesley Branton
Wesley Branton
more options

I've just tested on my own system running Firefox ESR 60.1.0 on Windows 10 and I have no such issue setting and locking the homepage through the autoconfig file.

This is because the browser.startup.page preference doesn't automatically change to 0 on my system. To stop it from doing so on your systems, I would recommend appending the following line to your configuration:

lockPref("browser.startup.page", 1);

This should keep and lock that preference to make the startup page appear. As far as I know, there are no plans to eliminate this specific option from the autoconfig options, but these options may not work properly if you have Firefox Group Policy enabled.

Hope this helps.